I have been admitted to a B.Arch program and as of now will be enrolled in the fall. However, lately I have been questioning whether I should major in architecture. I guess I don't have an undying passion for architecture - it interests me but it's not as if I couldn't see myself doing something else, Computer Science, instead, though I think with Comp Sci I would struggle some because of its difficulty as well. With the state of the architecture job market, does it make more sense to major in something else since I am not in the position of - I can't imagine majoring in anything else. And what do architects do? I mean I understand the IDP, and intern aspects, but once you're hired as an entry level architect are you just doing Revit and CAD all day? And only the principals are actually designing (leaving 30 years ahead of you before you actually design something)?
I think my real question is, not having a huge, huge, burning desire to major in architecture (it is an interest rather than a passion where I can't see myself doing anything else) should I still enter one of the most rigorous B.Arch programs (Cornell)?
Recently I have received much advice to major in anything but architecture because it has such low earnings, career satisfaction rates, and rankings in 'what are the best majors' and I hope someone can offer some advice.
You are both correct and incorrect. Correct in that it requires all these things you mention (the many hoops to jump through) but incorrect that it takes 30 years to design. If not a slick firm which isn't looking to be published, you can design much sooner. I first designed something (90+/- % of it) in 5 years, but it was a senior housing building. Nothing splashy or noteworthy, but it was received as contextually tasteful and built. Also, within 3 years, you should be seeing a multitude of tasks, and not just drafting, if you can show that you have good leadership and organizational skills.
You're answering your own question, in a way, by describing your level of passion First, 5 years from now, all the pent-up demand in architecture could theoretically blow wide open and graduates could be highly sought after, as in a seller's market. It has happened before and the financial packages related to employment were better. Also, Cornell is an Ivy League school, so that pushes up both the quality of your education and connections.
However, for some, it has to be architecture, and nothing but. For others, an architectural education is a good thing to have under their belt so they don't lament water under the bridge, providing they are identifying other areas they might consider for a career in the meantime. How about allied fields, such as civil engineering, landscape architecture, planning, interior design, or construction management? Some of those are at Cornell and some are not. I take it you are wrapping up HS. Didn't your HS give you a career inventory test? Most do. Mine did. If so, what were the top 10 careers it identified for you based on your questionnaire results?
keep in mind the people who write those "best majors" things don't actually know what they're talking about... they just take one single piece of data from a lone survey and write an article around it because that's their job.
architecture isn't low paying-- its low paying in RELATION to other fields that do the same thing. So in relation to any type of engineering job where you would be designing and putting together drawing sets, its lower... but not significantly.
The internet is also drowned with complaints from angry entry level graduates that can't find a job right now. Its not just architecture that has that problem right now. also, architecture school is weird because it doesn't prepare students for the working environment as much as say, accounting or engineering. school teaches you how to think and how to design, and then because you don't know (for example) cad standards or know how to detail very well, the ENTRY salary is lower than similar majors like engineering. but a few years in and it starts to even out.
The most IMPORTANT decision you could possibly make right now is how much debt you want to get into. you can always change your job, you can't change your debt situation. my answer: take on as little as possible.
It's highly optimistic to think that anything - especially architecture - is going to be better in five years. If you think there is a glut of unemployed grads now, add another 5 years worth.
Do yourself a favor and find something else to do. Read some of the threads here about guys working for peanuts, losing jobs, can't find jobs, carrying mountains of debt, etc.
I don't know. There's always that "haunted" factor. The OP may need to pay a shrink later ... which sitcom persona was a frustrated architect (Costanzo, maybe ?). Just kidding: no shrink, but maybe regrets. But, I definitely agree on avoiding excessive debt for school.
I wonder if the OP has applied to other schools besides Cornell. If he or she has, they could do the 4 year program in architecture and minor in business, for example. Or get another minor altogether to preview another field while doing a BA/BS in architecture.
The blip in terms of people will see some who hang on and others who will be moving on to other fields, unwilling to wait. Our country is more fluid that way because our curricular structures allow for changes. I know who girl who majored in business. She got caught in a layoff, when the economy was fine. She hoisted the middle finger, decided she never liked business that much, and was off to an accelerated second career BSN. And that's what she's done since. I think the grads a handful of years from now will be competing against their contemporaries for employment at that point in time, for the most part. Part of the problem is that more architecture schools have come into the pipeline, both from scratch and also by now offering M.Archs. 1 compared to a decade or two ago.
Architecture is a low paying field that requires an enormous amount of your time on salary ( no over time ) There are few actual jobs available when you graduate so you may very well end up working for minimum wage at some terrible job, like a lot of people, and even that may take a long time to find.
I recommended against 4+ year colleges in general ( with VERY FEW exceptions ). It is a big business out to make money, not provide you the knowledge needed to land a career. If you are really interested in something enough you will pick up the same books they give you in college and read them yourself, and you wont have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do so. The most ( and wanted by employers ) experience, comes from working in the field - not LER courses and general information about a topic.
what I would recommend is a good vocational program or trade school, that will actually provide you with working knowledge. Or, get yourself into ANY job now, and hope its sustainable and you can work your way up. Its 95% likely that, if you go to college, this is what you will have to do anyways ( only many thousands in debt )
Also, specialized degrees act as scarlet letters on your resume.
i don't know what the hell is wrong with you guys, but you ARE aware that real estate goes in phases, right? Its not a bad profession, we're just in a bad spot right now because of economic stagnation and all of you voting for Obama. As most of you are aware, the economy is picking up and people are actually building again.
OP, architecture is a cyclical business. Right now there are too many architects, because nothing is getting built. Nothing is getting built 1) because of the recession and 2) because there are already a lot of buildings in the US, and not enough demand for newer ones. Every 10 years or so this changes. In the late 80's there was a huge demand and as a result we overbuilt, and then there was no demand.
As the world starts to become more global you're going to see (and already are seeing) architects working on projects in places like China. Different places go through building booms at different times-- right now its not in the US, but it could be at any moment really.
Just don't get yourself in a mountain of debt. Unless you're planning on getting your PhD and doing purely theoretical stuff (which ISN'T affected by the ebbs and flows of the building industry) or working for a high profile artsy firm (meaning low pay) then the school you go to really doesn't matter all that much, despite what everyone is telling you right now as you're leaving high school. My friend went to Pratt for art-- it really didn't make her any better, and didn't really get her a job. Now she has a huge monthly bill she has to pay.
i'll say it again: THE SCHOOL YOU GO TO DOESN'T REALLY MATTER.
All this doom and gloom on this website is purely due to the melodrama of people in this field, mixed with a struggling economy. If you look at the posts on this website since 2008 the majority of them are just bitter because someone can't find a job, and they have nothing to do but sit at home and complain on the internet.
If you want to go into architecture, financially you'll be just fine. Trust me, if accounting or finance or any of those other high pay jobs sounds boring now, they're not going to be less boring when you're doing them 9-5.
OP-- I went to Cornell. It's a good program, pretty intense. I graduated a few years back and moved to the SF bay area. I had a tough time finding a job, took me about 6 months. My classmates who went to NYC found employment faster, there are A LOT of Cornellians there, and alums are willing to help out. It's really up to you to find out if arch is what you want to do. You can start at first yr and if you don't like it, you can transfer to another major. Personally I'm also not totally crazy about architecture but I am a visual person. I'd much rather work with drawings than anything else.
If you want to go into architecture, financially you'll be just fine. Trust me, if accounting or finance or any of those other high pay jobs sounds boring now, they're not going to be less boring when you're doing them 9-5.
Backbay, you're right here. In defense of financial types, though, they are far more conventional and easy-going, except for stockbrokers and investment bankers, both in school and in the workplace, as in BTDT, compared to some of the eccentric, pseudo-intellectual and egotistical fucks to be found in architecture. However, architecture is more interesting and actually almost easier to do if you a have a visual, spatial, anal-retentive, trivia-liking, detailed mind. The difficult part of architecture is not architecture. It's the milieu; that is, the compendium of "stuff" in practice. Architecture can either fit like a glove or a mitt, depending on the school (not the ranking, but the curriculum and the collective personality of the students and faculty) and the firm you end up at. Unless those HS aptitude tests told you something else you like just as much, I would still keep it in the running. It's not a "scarlet letter" degree. People go do other related things immediately after a-school, so they'll hire you for other lines of work, including leasing commercial real estate if you look the part, can back slap, and can swing a golf club.
If you do not have the passion, the long hours required by architecture school will seem pointless.
No matter how good you are, no matter how smart you are, there are no shortcuts in architecture school. If all you do is the minimum, architecture takes many more hours than many other majors in which you just do the minimum. And if you do more than the minimum, architecture school will be your life. And that's awesome for people who want to be architects.
When I started my BArch program in 1990, my freshman class started with over 80. We graduated just 34 in 1995. Many of the people who quit were smarter than I, and some were better designers. They just didn't want it as much as I did, it was the long hours that broke them, and I watched some of the late-night, last-straw freakouts. Then they had to start over in new majors.
If you already know you don't want it that much, you are wise to reconsider before you start. And if you are borrowing money for college, you really, really owe it to yourself to seriously reconsider.
OP, the best thing you could do is actually figure out what you enjoy doing. then find out what you're good at, and then find out where those cross.
if you suck at designing, being creative, figuring things out, and have poor spacial reasoning, pick something else. when they tell you to go to college to "do what you love" its a lie. make a list of what you're good at (and by this i mean talented-- everyone has something they excel at), and then pick what you love out of that list.
Nope. The ONLY reason to go into architecture is for the love of the game. The money sucks, the job security is non-existent, and the future as far as it can be predicted looks grim. It's good that you are being honest with yourself about your lack of total belly fire. Many people (like me) get into it without asking that question, and spend the rest of our careers in regret. Don't make that mistake.
Many of the people who quit were smarter than I, and some were better designers. They just didn't want it as much as I did, it was the long hours that broke them, and I watched some of the late-night, last-straw freakouts.
Interesting thread. Of the 4 year segment in my university, I saw a lot of people drop out, though I didn't know them, but they shouldn't have been there. The graphics and models of the initial "cute" projects showed such a disparity in ability. I have no idea what criteria is employed in "screening" 4 year applicants for admission. High school drafting? A drawing of a vase and flowers?
In the M.Arch., I heard of no one drop out from the 2 year program and we lost 3 people in the M. Arch. 3 year class. The people we lost appeared to have no passion from the very beginning. There were even people did not have much passion during the entire program, they would turn in marginal projects, and they were graduated. I have never seen a really good designer drop out. The school would make sure they got financial aid and/or some kind of graduate assignment to keep them engaged. I have never seen a "freak-out" during the last few all-nighters. What I did see were disheveled, tired, and ornery students who then slept for 24 hours afterward and missed classes for a day. Those who dropped out usually did so over considering it, without fanfare, and never in the throes of passion and frenzy involved in the culmination of a design project.
run forest run!!! You don't even have a burning desire and you haven't even started yet. Many who have that desire don't even end up going through it when reality sets in. However, if you got a fat bank account and money isn't a problem, I'd totally say 'go for it'.
Think BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math). That's the future, If you want to be successful, approach college with those fields/areas of focus in mind.
Since many use accounting as the boring profession to compare architecture to, I'd just like to say that as a former architect who does some accounting now, I'd like to point out that it is quite similar. Drafting is boring and tedious, so is accounting. Building codes are similar to the tax code. Both require plenty of forethought and strategy in decision-making. My office is next door to a real accountant's office, he only works about 4 months out of the year. I have a lot of free time too that I didn't have as an architect and I love it
To the OP, what about architecture intrigues you? Here is some of my story: I was interested in the visual-spatial education, and was very interested in buildings, spaces, engineering, art, culture, people - so architecture sounded perfect for me until I got a job and had to sit in a cubicle and draft or render for 40-60 hours every week. I even got to design my own projects right away, but I was still bored and frustrated.. Are you interested in the education of the architect? It is very cool, especially at Cornell. Are you interested in the fancy graphics part? If so, my advice is to become a video game designer and have 10 times the fun for twice the pay with no real world restraints. The Comp Sci majors I know got signing bonuses and were recruited right from college.
I've come to feel that architecture ( aside from the initial design aspect that you probably wont be doing ) is nothing more than data-entry in the form of drawing rather than number / text datas anyways.
If you are interested in art/design ( I assume thats what OP is interested in) it is what made me consider architecture - Instead consider graphics AND MORE IMPORTANTLY animation / modeling. I would have rather done that, and I believe the opportunities ( with all of the advertising ) is much greater than the architecture industry. Its also funner than data-entering a floor plan.
I still feel that getting practical training in a skill everyone has a need for; HVAC, things along those lines, and entering into the work-force asap is a better option nowadays than 4 years of college ... seriously... a degree does not really = higher pay / better life. Maybe 25 years ago it did, but not nowadays.
I'm still scratching my head over the adversarial issue in the design studio when in school. I never saw it. They let you do what you wanted, if you could explain what you were doing. I wonder if, maybe, since I was a "little bit" older, they didn't hassle me. But I didn't see 23 year olds get hassled either. I have never seen it. Does it really happen? Is it a function of the school? Is it about weeding out when the initial enrollment is too big? Or is it just the occasional professor who is heavy handed?
I don't agree with computerized animation. That's probably a haven for 25 to 35 year olds, with a "way cool" hipsterish vibe. It's not a profession, where your experience accumulates and better judgment develops over time. Better the 55 year old architect dudes with shoulder length white hair in hipster suits (who irritated my friend who was at work in her library) than a 55 year old computer animator who is trying to fit in with 30 year olds. My 2 cents.
Thank you for all of the responses, everyone. I am leaning toward majoring in Comp Sci at the moment, but I feel like I'll miss the visual/spacial problem solving that architecture involves. Maybe I'll get an extracurricular that involves something creative in addition to keeping painting and drawing on the side. Also, getting an M.Arch and heading into architecture is also an option if I decide, right? After getting an unrelated 4 year degree.
Yes, to the above, especially with a degree from a good school. They love the name schools in the admissions game for the good schools for the M. Arch. 1 (3+ year). Just be sure to take some electives in art and design en route such that you can build a portfolio, a key ingredient in the admission packet should you decide to pursue that.
Since you just have an interest and not an undying need, I think COMP SCI is a wiser decision. Or anything you equally have an interest in but is in more demand and would offer the most value people are willing to pay for.
I'm weary of the age old narcissistic career advice "do what you love" and "follow your passion" anyways.
Should I major in architecture?
I have been admitted to a B.Arch program and as of now will be enrolled in the fall. However, lately I have been questioning whether I should major in architecture. I guess I don't have an undying passion for architecture - it interests me but it's not as if I couldn't see myself doing something else, Computer Science, instead, though I think with Comp Sci I would struggle some because of its difficulty as well. With the state of the architecture job market, does it make more sense to major in something else since I am not in the position of - I can't imagine majoring in anything else. And what do architects do? I mean I understand the IDP, and intern aspects, but once you're hired as an entry level architect are you just doing Revit and CAD all day? And only the principals are actually designing (leaving 30 years ahead of you before you actually design something)?
I think my real question is, not having a huge, huge, burning desire to major in architecture (it is an interest rather than a passion where I can't see myself doing anything else) should I still enter one of the most rigorous B.Arch programs (Cornell)?
Recently I have received much advice to major in anything but architecture because it has such low earnings, career satisfaction rates, and rankings in 'what are the best majors' and I hope someone can offer some advice.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thank you.
You are both correct and incorrect. Correct in that it requires all these things you mention (the many hoops to jump through) but incorrect that it takes 30 years to design. If not a slick firm which isn't looking to be published, you can design much sooner. I first designed something (90+/- % of it) in 5 years, but it was a senior housing building. Nothing splashy or noteworthy, but it was received as contextually tasteful and built. Also, within 3 years, you should be seeing a multitude of tasks, and not just drafting, if you can show that you have good leadership and organizational skills.
You're answering your own question, in a way, by describing your level of passion First, 5 years from now, all the pent-up demand in architecture could theoretically blow wide open and graduates could be highly sought after, as in a seller's market. It has happened before and the financial packages related to employment were better. Also, Cornell is an Ivy League school, so that pushes up both the quality of your education and connections.
However, for some, it has to be architecture, and nothing but. For others, an architectural education is a good thing to have under their belt so they don't lament water under the bridge, providing they are identifying other areas they might consider for a career in the meantime. How about allied fields, such as civil engineering, landscape architecture, planning, interior design, or construction management? Some of those are at Cornell and some are not. I take it you are wrapping up HS. Didn't your HS give you a career inventory test? Most do. Mine did. If so, what were the top 10 careers it identified for you based on your questionnaire results?
keep in mind the people who write those "best majors" things don't actually know what they're talking about... they just take one single piece of data from a lone survey and write an article around it because that's their job.
architecture isn't low paying-- its low paying in RELATION to other fields that do the same thing. So in relation to any type of engineering job where you would be designing and putting together drawing sets, its lower... but not significantly.
The internet is also drowned with complaints from angry entry level graduates that can't find a job right now. Its not just architecture that has that problem right now. also, architecture school is weird because it doesn't prepare students for the working environment as much as say, accounting or engineering. school teaches you how to think and how to design, and then because you don't know (for example) cad standards or know how to detail very well, the ENTRY salary is lower than similar majors like engineering. but a few years in and it starts to even out.
The most IMPORTANT decision you could possibly make right now is how much debt you want to get into. you can always change your job, you can't change your debt situation. my answer: take on as little as possible.
It's highly optimistic to think that anything - especially architecture - is going to be better in five years. If you think there is a glut of unemployed grads now, add another 5 years worth.
Do yourself a favor and find something else to do. Read some of the threads here about guys working for peanuts, losing jobs, can't find jobs, carrying mountains of debt, etc.
^
I don't know. There's always that "haunted" factor. The OP may need to pay a shrink later ... which sitcom persona was a frustrated architect (Costanzo, maybe ?). Just kidding: no shrink, but maybe regrets. But, I definitely agree on avoiding excessive debt for school.
I wonder if the OP has applied to other schools besides Cornell. If he or she has, they could do the 4 year program in architecture and minor in business, for example. Or get another minor altogether to preview another field while doing a BA/BS in architecture.
The blip in terms of people will see some who hang on and others who will be moving on to other fields, unwilling to wait. Our country is more fluid that way because our curricular structures allow for changes. I know who girl who majored in business. She got caught in a layoff, when the economy was fine. She hoisted the middle finger, decided she never liked business that much, and was off to an accelerated second career BSN. And that's what she's done since. I think the grads a handful of years from now will be competing against their contemporaries for employment at that point in time, for the most part. Part of the problem is that more architecture schools have come into the pipeline, both from scratch and also by now offering M.Archs. 1 compared to a decade or two ago.
No you should not.
Architecture is a low paying field that requires an enormous amount of your time on salary ( no over time ) There are few actual jobs available when you graduate so you may very well end up working for minimum wage at some terrible job, like a lot of people, and even that may take a long time to find.
I recommended against 4+ year colleges in general ( with VERY FEW exceptions ). It is a big business out to make money, not provide you the knowledge needed to land a career. If you are really interested in something enough you will pick up the same books they give you in college and read them yourself, and you wont have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do so. The most ( and wanted by employers ) experience, comes from working in the field - not LER courses and general information about a topic.
what I would recommend is a good vocational program or trade school, that will actually provide you with working knowledge. Or, get yourself into ANY job now, and hope its sustainable and you can work your way up. Its 95% likely that, if you go to college, this is what you will have to do anyways ( only many thousands in debt )
Also, specialized degrees act as scarlet letters on your resume.
i don't know what the hell is wrong with you guys, but you ARE aware that real estate goes in phases, right? Its not a bad profession, we're just in a bad spot right now because of economic stagnation and all of you voting for Obama. As most of you are aware, the economy is picking up and people are actually building again.
OP, architecture is a cyclical business. Right now there are too many architects, because nothing is getting built. Nothing is getting built 1) because of the recession and 2) because there are already a lot of buildings in the US, and not enough demand for newer ones. Every 10 years or so this changes. In the late 80's there was a huge demand and as a result we overbuilt, and then there was no demand.
As the world starts to become more global you're going to see (and already are seeing) architects working on projects in places like China. Different places go through building booms at different times-- right now its not in the US, but it could be at any moment really.
Just don't get yourself in a mountain of debt. Unless you're planning on getting your PhD and doing purely theoretical stuff (which ISN'T affected by the ebbs and flows of the building industry) or working for a high profile artsy firm (meaning low pay) then the school you go to really doesn't matter all that much, despite what everyone is telling you right now as you're leaving high school. My friend went to Pratt for art-- it really didn't make her any better, and didn't really get her a job. Now she has a huge monthly bill she has to pay.
i'll say it again: THE SCHOOL YOU GO TO DOESN'T REALLY MATTER.
All this doom and gloom on this website is purely due to the melodrama of people in this field, mixed with a struggling economy. If you look at the posts on this website since 2008 the majority of them are just bitter because someone can't find a job, and they have nothing to do but sit at home and complain on the internet.
If you want to go into architecture, financially you'll be just fine. Trust me, if accounting or finance or any of those other high pay jobs sounds boring now, they're not going to be less boring when you're doing them 9-5.
OP-- I went to Cornell. It's a good program, pretty intense. I graduated a few years back and moved to the SF bay area. I had a tough time finding a job, took me about 6 months. My classmates who went to NYC found employment faster, there are A LOT of Cornellians there, and alums are willing to help out. It's really up to you to find out if arch is what you want to do. You can start at first yr and if you don't like it, you can transfer to another major. Personally I'm also not totally crazy about architecture but I am a visual person. I'd much rather work with drawings than anything else.
If you want to go into architecture, financially you'll be just fine. Trust me, if accounting or finance or any of those other high pay jobs sounds boring now, they're not going to be less boring when you're doing them 9-5.
Backbay, you're right here. In defense of financial types, though, they are far more conventional and easy-going, except for stockbrokers and investment bankers, both in school and in the workplace, as in BTDT, compared to some of the eccentric, pseudo-intellectual and egotistical fucks to be found in architecture. However, architecture is more interesting and actually almost easier to do if you a have a visual, spatial, anal-retentive, trivia-liking, detailed mind. The difficult part of architecture is not architecture. It's the milieu; that is, the compendium of "stuff" in practice. Architecture can either fit like a glove or a mitt, depending on the school (not the ranking, but the curriculum and the collective personality of the students and faculty) and the firm you end up at. Unless those HS aptitude tests told you something else you like just as much, I would still keep it in the running. It's not a "scarlet letter" degree. People go do other related things immediately after a-school, so they'll hire you for other lines of work, including leasing commercial real estate if you look the part, can back slap, and can swing a golf club.
If you do not have the passion, the long hours required by architecture school will seem pointless.
No matter how good you are, no matter how smart you are, there are no shortcuts in architecture school. If all you do is the minimum, architecture takes many more hours than many other majors in which you just do the minimum. And if you do more than the minimum, architecture school will be your life. And that's awesome for people who want to be architects.
When I started my BArch program in 1990, my freshman class started with over 80. We graduated just 34 in 1995. Many of the people who quit were smarter than I, and some were better designers. They just didn't want it as much as I did, it was the long hours that broke them, and I watched some of the late-night, last-straw freakouts. Then they had to start over in new majors.
If you already know you don't want it that much, you are wise to reconsider before you start. And if you are borrowing money for college, you really, really owe it to yourself to seriously reconsider.
OP, the best thing you could do is actually figure out what you enjoy doing. then find out what you're good at, and then find out where those cross.
if you suck at designing, being creative, figuring things out, and have poor spacial reasoning, pick something else. when they tell you to go to college to "do what you love" its a lie. make a list of what you're good at (and by this i mean talented-- everyone has something they excel at), and then pick what you love out of that list.
Nope. The ONLY reason to go into architecture is for the love of the game. The money sucks, the job security is non-existent, and the future as far as it can be predicted looks grim. It's good that you are being honest with yourself about your lack of total belly fire. Many people (like me) get into it without asking that question, and spend the rest of our careers in regret. Don't make that mistake.
Many of the people who quit were smarter than I, and some were better designers. They just didn't want it as much as I did, it was the long hours that broke them, and I watched some of the late-night, last-straw freakouts.
Interesting thread. Of the 4 year segment in my university, I saw a lot of people drop out, though I didn't know them, but they shouldn't have been there. The graphics and models of the initial "cute" projects showed such a disparity in ability. I have no idea what criteria is employed in "screening" 4 year applicants for admission. High school drafting? A drawing of a vase and flowers?
In the M.Arch., I heard of no one drop out from the 2 year program and we lost 3 people in the M. Arch. 3 year class. The people we lost appeared to have no passion from the very beginning. There were even people did not have much passion during the entire program, they would turn in marginal projects, and they were graduated. I have never seen a really good designer drop out. The school would make sure they got financial aid and/or some kind of graduate assignment to keep them engaged. I have never seen a "freak-out" during the last few all-nighters. What I did see were disheveled, tired, and ornery students who then slept for 24 hours afterward and missed classes for a day. Those who dropped out usually did so over considering it, without fanfare, and never in the throes of passion and frenzy involved in the culmination of a design project.
run forest run!!! You don't even have a burning desire and you haven't even started yet. Many who have that desire don't even end up going through it when reality sets in. However, if you got a fat bank account and money isn't a problem, I'd totally say 'go for it'.
Think BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math). That's the future, If you want to be successful, approach college with those fields/areas of focus in mind.
^
Brazil might be nice.
Architecture is STEM - STEM lite - look up STEM on wiki.
Architecture + Brazil FTW. Solution: minor in Portuguese.
We're done.
Since many use accounting as the boring profession to compare architecture to, I'd just like to say that as a former architect who does some accounting now, I'd like to point out that it is quite similar. Drafting is boring and tedious, so is accounting. Building codes are similar to the tax code. Both require plenty of forethought and strategy in decision-making. My office is next door to a real accountant's office, he only works about 4 months out of the year. I have a lot of free time too that I didn't have as an architect and I love it
To the OP, what about architecture intrigues you? Here is some of my story: I was interested in the visual-spatial education, and was very interested in buildings, spaces, engineering, art, culture, people - so architecture sounded perfect for me until I got a job and had to sit in a cubicle and draft or render for 40-60 hours every week. I even got to design my own projects right away, but I was still bored and frustrated.. Are you interested in the education of the architect? It is very cool, especially at Cornell. Are you interested in the fancy graphics part? If so, my advice is to become a video game designer and have 10 times the fun for twice the pay with no real world restraints. The Comp Sci majors I know got signing bonuses and were recruited right from college.
I agree
I've come to feel that architecture ( aside from the initial design aspect that you probably wont be doing ) is nothing more than data-entry in the form of drawing rather than number / text datas anyways.
If you are interested in art/design ( I assume thats what OP is interested in) it is what made me consider architecture - Instead consider graphics AND MORE IMPORTANTLY animation / modeling. I would have rather done that, and I believe the opportunities ( with all of the advertising ) is much greater than the architecture industry. Its also funner than data-entering a floor plan.
I still feel that getting practical training in a skill everyone has a need for; HVAC, things along those lines, and entering into the work-force asap is a better option nowadays than 4 years of college ... seriously... a degree does not really = higher pay / better life. Maybe 25 years ago it did, but not nowadays.
I'm still scratching my head over the adversarial issue in the design studio when in school. I never saw it. They let you do what you wanted, if you could explain what you were doing. I wonder if, maybe, since I was a "little bit" older, they didn't hassle me. But I didn't see 23 year olds get hassled either. I have never seen it. Does it really happen? Is it a function of the school? Is it about weeding out when the initial enrollment is too big? Or is it just the occasional professor who is heavy handed?
I don't agree with computerized animation. That's probably a haven for 25 to 35 year olds, with a "way cool" hipsterish vibe. It's not a profession, where your experience accumulates and better judgment develops over time. Better the 55 year old architect dudes with shoulder length white hair in hipster suits (who irritated my friend who was at work in her library) than a 55 year old computer animator who is trying to fit in with 30 year olds. My 2 cents.
Thank you for all of the responses, everyone. I am leaning toward majoring in Comp Sci at the moment, but I feel like I'll miss the visual/spacial problem solving that architecture involves. Maybe I'll get an extracurricular that involves something creative in addition to keeping painting and drawing on the side. Also, getting an M.Arch and heading into architecture is also an option if I decide, right? After getting an unrelated 4 year degree.
Any other thoughts/opinions?
Thanks for the help.
Yes, to the above, especially with a degree from a good school. They love the name schools in the admissions game for the good schools for the M. Arch. 1 (3+ year). Just be sure to take some electives in art and design en route such that you can build a portfolio, a key ingredient in the admission packet should you decide to pursue that.
Hello,
Liz O'Sullivan, I like your answer and agree with you...
Run Forrest run!
Since you just have an interest and not an undying need, I think COMP SCI is a wiser decision. Or anything you equally have an interest in but is in more demand and would offer the most value people are willing to pay for.
I'm weary of the age old narcissistic career advice "do what you love" and "follow your passion" anyways.
^
As for whether that maxim has a narcissistic component, you can only fake interest in a job, or a career, that doesn't interest you for only so long.
No.
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